Discovering home education: tutor-led learning

Ashley: My name is Ashley. I'm 28. I've got a daughter called Asaiah and she's six and a baby in the oven. Um, and I'm a home ed mum and really enjoy it. I chose the tutor-led approach because I don't know everything. I've never done this before, and I want to make sure that she gets the best education. And some people are experts in their field, and I want to be able to use that.

So having a tutor changed Asaiah's experience because we've tried group sessions, and I found that she prefers one-on-one learning. I think it helps her build a relationship with somebody outside of me because I'm mum, and it's sometimes hard to switch off mum and teacher. So having that other relationship has been really good for her confidence - having another authority that she has to lean into, trust, and listen to. And as well, for me, knowing that I'm doing the right thing and giving her the education that she needs.

Louisa: My name is Louisa. I'm Asaiah's tutor, so I've been working with her since about April/May last year. Obviously, as a qualified teacher, I'm up to date with all of the current methods of how things should be taught. It's just making sure that those really crucial building blocks of learning, such as reading and maths, are being taught correctly for the homeschool to then build on.

Ashley: So the areas that we have been focusing on are piano, French, Spanish, and her reading.

Louisa: I think with children of that young age, it's really important that everything has a play-based approach. You want them to feel like they're playing and not really think, "This is a lesson I'm sitting down to learn."

Asaiah: My favourite thing is probably the games. We do unicorn ones, school ones, reading ones, and stuff like that.

Producer: Does she make learning fun?

Asaiah: Yeah.

Louisa: We use so many different techniques. We use things like magnetic letters, cutting and sticking, and her favourite unicorn game that she loves to play. So it's that balance of getting the content in there that they need to succeed, but doing it in a fun way so that they are enthusiastic about their learning as well.

Ashley: A lot of people think that you're trying to replicate school at home or that you're trying to push a child in a certain way. And I don't think it is that. It's just acknowledging where you can't deliver, I guess, and then facilitating that.

Louisa: Parents may have the subject knowledge, but they might not necessarily know the curriculum that should be followed, so they might not know which topics to cover. I'm just able to steer them with those things and help them understand how the curriculum is set up now.

Ashley: The advice I would give parents that want to take the tutor-led approach is: do your research, try and utilise the people around you - the families around you, even just your family and friends that you have who have skills—and make sure the tutor aligns with your values. Then, find one that fits within your budget. There are so many resources out there.